Telephone connector



y 19, 1970 5. DAL MONTE ETAL 3,513,261

TELEPHONE CONNECTOR 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oc'L 20, 196'? FIG.

INVENTORS 6/0267 04 MONTE BY 905 MIG/VA/V/ wt g. T035 19, 1970 G. DAL MONTE ETAL 3,513,261

TELEPHONE CONNECTOR Filed Oct. 20, 1967 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 76 7C 3/ v M 32 34; F! I If /5 86 w I A VENTURS 6/0 041. Md/VTE By 6206 M/a/m/w ATTOEN'KS' y 19, 1970 e. DAL MONTE ETAL 3,513,261

TELEPHONE CONNECTOR Filed Oct. 20, 1967 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 3 Z3 3 INVENTORS:

G OAQGIO 0,44 MONTE F 5 BY 205 M 6A/4/V/ United States Patent 3,513,261 TELEPHONE CONNECTOR Giorgio Dal Monte, and Eros Mignani, Milan, Italy, as-

signors to Societa Italiana Telecommunicazioni Siemens S.p.A., Milan, Italy, a corporation of Italy Filed Oct. 20, 1967, Ser. No. 676,919 Claims priority, application Italy, Oct. 21, 1966, 29,135/ 66 Int. Cl. H01r 33/00 U.S. Cl. 179-1 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Plug-in connector, particularly for telephone cords, with a cup-shaped housing receiving a removable insert which carries a set of outwardly projecting prongs receivable in an associated socket, the prongs being conductively joined to respective tabs which upon assembly overlie respective conductor terminals within the housing and are traversed, together with these terminals, by screws serving to secure the insert to the housing whereby a conductive connection is established between the prongs and the conductors assigned thereto; substitution of inserts with diiferent arrays of prongs allows use of the connector with different types of socket. A buzzer or bell may be mounted within the housing on the cup bottom and may be optionally connected in circuit by a special screw interlinking two of the tabs.

Our present invention relates to a connector of the plug-in type, particularly as used in telephone installations for temporarily connecting a multiconductor cord to an outgoing line terminating at a wall socket or other mating outlet.

The construction of such connectors varies in difierent parts of the world and may also be modified locally, as to the number of conductors used, to satisfy particular requirements. Thus, the prongs of the male connector or plug may assume a variety of shapes, such as that of round pins or flat blades, and their relative positions are also not invariably the same. There exist, furthermore, situations where it is desirable to operate a separate acoustic signal, such as a bell or a buzzer, in the vicinity of a connector in response to an incoming call, as when the associated handset does not carry its own acoustic device. Heretofore, such signaling means had to be accommodated in separate boxes near the outlet and, in the event of an incoming call, became operative regardless of the presence or absence of a connected handset unless special circuitry was provided to cut off the acoustic signal when no handset was connected to the socket.

It is, therefore, the general object of our present invention to provide an improved plug-in connector of the type described which can be readily adapted to various kinds of sockets.

Another object of our invention is to provide, in such connector, acoustic signaling means responding to incoming calls.

It is also an object of this invention to provide means for positively preventing any untimely detachment of the connector from its socket.

A plug-in connector according to our invention, designed to accomplish the aforestated objects, comprises a generally cup-shaped housing (usually of insulating mate rial) whose mouth is adapted to receive an insulating cover or insert serving as a carrier for an array of prongs designed to fit the jacks of a particular socket. The prongs are conductively joined to respective tabs which, upon assembly of the housing and the insert, overlie respective conductor terminals within the housing, these terminals ice being individually connected to the several conductors of a telephone cord extending from an associated handset through an opening of the housing into the interior thereof. The housing has several internal bosses with preferably threaded bores which are directed toward the mouth of the cup and, in the assembled condition, are aligned with respective holes of corresponding terminal members, perforations of respective tabs and apertures of the terminal carrier for passage therethrough of individual fasteners, such as screws, serving to join the carrier to the housing and at the same time to establish a conductive connection between the tabs and the respective terminal members, thereby also connecting the corresponding cord conductors to the associated prongs.

In accordance with another feature of our invention, the housing further accommodates an acoustic signaling device such as a buzzer which is preferably mounted directly on the bottom of the cup so as to transmit its sonicvibrations most effectively to the connector and through it to the surrounding atmosphere. The energizing circuit of this signaling device includes at least one of the aforementioned tabs, rigid with an associated prong, as well as an additional and preferably resilient tab which has no prong of its own but can be brought into contact with the aforementioned rigid tab by a connector element such as a screw introduced through a further aperture in the terminal carrier.

In order to keep the connector in secure engagement with a co-operating socket, we prefer to provide it with a detent in the form of a spring-biased hook adapted to grip the face plate of the socket unless released by a pushbutton or other actuator accessible from the outside. In order to accommodate such a detent, it is advantageous to undercut one of the prongs of the carrier and to place the hook within the undercut so as to facilitate its introduction into the socket through the plate aperture assigned to the undercut prong.

The invention will be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of the principal elements of a connector according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the line IIII of FIG. 1 and showing the connector together with an associated socket plate;

FIG. 3 is a bottom view of an insert of terminal carrier forming part of the connector;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a cover supplementing the parts shown in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken substantially on the line VV of FIG. 1.

The male connector or plug shown in the drawing comprises a generally cup-shaped housing 1 provided with a laterally extending neck 21 which forms an opening for a multiconductor telephone cord 22. Individual conductors 23 of that cord are clamped to respective terminal posts 3 rising from the bottom of the insulating housing 1. An acoustic signaling device, in the form of a buzzer 4, is rigid with the bottom of housing 1 which also accommodates an associated circuit element 5, such as a condenser shunting the electromagnet of the buzzer. Screws 6 fit into the threaded bores of internal bosses 9 of the housing and pass through apertures 23 of an insulating terminal carrier 2 which is partly received in the mouth 24 of housing 1 as an insert or cover therefor and which has a neck 25 overlying the neck 21 of the housing to hold the cable 22 in position. Connected in circuit with the posts 3 and the terminals of buzzer 4 and condenser 5, via leads illustrated only in part, are four terminal members 10 having the shape of rings soldered onto the associated leads. The screws 6 pass, in the assembled condition of the connector, through the apertures 23 of terminal carrier 2, the holes of conductor members and perforations 26 (FIG. 3) of respective tabs 8a, 8b, 17 and 18 aligned therewith, these tabs being firmly clamped between the terminal members 10 and the bottom of carrier 2 when the screws are driven home in the associated bosses 9. Three of the tabs, i.e. the tabs 8a, 8b and 18, are rigid metal strips joined to the inner extremities of respective prongs 7a, 7b and 7c projecting outwardly from carrier 2; this may be accomplished by notching and spreading the inner ends of the prongs, as best seen in FIG. 2. Tab 17 is not so connected and is a resilient tongue spacedly overlying the tab 18 to which it may be mechanically and galvanically joined by a further screw 19 insertable through an aperture 20 of carrier 2; tabs 17 and 18 are provided, for this purpose, with aligned holes to receive the screw 19, the holes 27 of tab 18 being complementarily threaded. A further aperture, not shown, may be provided on carrier 2 as a repository for screw 19 when the latter is not in use to interconnect the tabs 17 and 18.

Terminal carrier 2 is formed with a depression 28 to receive a lid 11 (best seen in FIG. 4) which has a cutout 29 to clear the prongs 7a, 7b and 7c and is provided with depending lugs 30 insertable with frictional fit into recesses 13 of carrier 2.

Pron'gs 7a, 7b and 7c are all shown as coplanar flat blades. Prong 7b is undercut at 31 to provide clearance for a hook 14 rising from the terminal carrier 2 on which it is fulcrumed at 32 under pressure of a biasing spring 15. This spring urges the book 14 into positive engagement with a face plate 33 (FIG. 2) of a mating socket one of whose jacks is designed to receive the prong 7b; since hook 14 is a blade coplanar with that prong and retractable within the undercut 31 thereof, its introduction into the socket through the corresponding slot 34 of plate 33 presents no problem. In order to release the detent 34, a pushbutton 16 accessible from outside the housing 1 may be actuated, this button projecting through a side opening 35 of carrier 2.

It will thus be seen that we have provided a compact connector of simple construction which conveniently accommodates auxiliary circuit elements, such as the buzzer 4 and its condenser 5, and whose terminal carrier 2 may be replaced by similar inserts having differently shaped and/or arrayed prongs to fit sockets of various types. Such interchange of terminal carriers does not require any clamping, cutting or resoldering of the wires 23 of cord 22. Only the removal of screw 19 is necessary to disconnect the buzzer 4 by breaking the contact between tabs 17 and 18. The connector, accordingly, has a practically universal usefulness in telephone systems and similar installations where a plurality of conductors are to be joined to corresponding line wires by way of a releasable plug-in connection. The presence of acoustic indicator 4 within the housing 1 makes the indicator available regardless of the number of sockets into which the connector may have to be alternatively plugged.

Naturally, minor structural modifications of the specific arrangement described and illustrated are possible without departing from the spirit and scope of our invention as defined in the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A plug-in connector receivable in a socket for connecting a multiconductor cord of a telephone handset to an outside line, comprising a generally cup-shaped housing with an opening for an associated multiconductor cord, a plurality of terminal members within said housing joined to respective conductors of said cord, said housing being provided with a plurality of internal bosses having bores directed toward the mouth of the cup, an insulating terminal carrier receivable on said mouth and provided with an array of outwardly projecting prongs engageable with respective jacks of an associated socket, said prongs terminating in conductive tabs on the side of said carrier facing the interior of said housing, said terminal members being receivable between said carrier and respective internal bosses of said housing and having holes engageable with the bores of said bosses, said tabs being formed with perforations and said carrier being provided with apertures in line with said perforations registering with the bores of said bosses, and a plurality of fasteners respectively insertable through said apertures and perforations and through the holes of the aligned terminal members into said bores for removably joining said carrier to said housing with concurrent establishment of a conductive contact between said terminal members and respective tabs.

2. A conductor as defined in claim 1, further comprising acoustic signaling means in said housing and an energizing circuit for said signaling means including at least one of said tabs.

3. A conductor as defined in claim 2 wherein said energizing circuit further includes an additional tab on said carrier normally spaced from said one of said tabs and connector means engageable with said additional tab and said one of said tabs for conductively interlinking same.

4. A conductor as defined in claim 3 wherein said carrier is provided with a further aperture, said connector means comprising a screw insertable through said further aperture.

5. A conductor as defined in claim 2 wherein said signaling means comprises a buzzer seated on the bottom of said cup.

6. A conductor as defined in claim 1 wherein said bores are threaded, said fasteners comprising screws mating with the threaded bores.

7. A conductor as defined in claim 6, further comprising an insulating lid provided wtih a cutout for said prongs and removably receivable in a depression of said carrier to overlie said screws.

8. A conductor as defined in claim 1, further comprising resilient detent means in said housing engageable with said socket and release means for said detent means operable from outside said housing.

9. A conductor as defined in claim 8 wherein said detent means comprises a hook projecting from said carrier alongside one of said prongs, the latter being provided with an undercut accommodating said hook.

10. A conductor as defined in claim 9 wherein said hook and the prong provided with said undercut are in the shape of coplanar blades.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,049,093 7/ 193 6 Thorin. 3,267,408 8/1966 Baker et al. 33991 X 3,346,833 10/1967 Lee 339l96 KATHLEEN H. CLAFFY, Primary Examiner C. W. JIRAUCH, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 339-196 

